


it wasn't that bad

by crushunits



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fanfiction, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Meet-Cute, Shy Mark Lee (NCT), Soft Kim Jungwoo (NCT)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 02:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19264399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crushunits/pseuds/crushunits
Summary: mark stumbles upon a barber shop in the internet with very high reviews





	it wasn't that bad

**Author's Note:**

> i have created the image of jungwoo being a hairstylist since before but i never really dug deeper into it but recently, i read someone from twt that talked about jungwoo giving everyone bowlcuts and it gave me an interesting idea to spin it off with mark because i imagine him as a fun kid w very maximal reaction towards everything anyways, i know it kinda looked like a crack ship but markwoo is really adorable guys!!! i SO love them so much and im really thankful that i had time to write about this even though its kinda short, so i hope u guys will see to love them like i do and enjoy this story <3

Mark needed a new haircut. Or he thinks he does because he's about to be back to school in two weeks and he really wanted to look nice and fresh on his first day of his senior year in high school.

He never really did anything on his hair from the past years. He never added color, it was always black with a clean cut, just like how his mother trimmed his hair to be. But now, he decided to make decisions of his own and wanted to start something on his hair, something new or maybe something he could call his own. And since he never had an experience with barber shops, he wanted it to be special and needs to be done with someone who really knows what he's doing. So,  he checked at the internet the shops in his town, or nearest to his town, that has the best reviews and best hair care. And there it is, Zeus Barber Shop was the top of the results which is a good thing because its only a 15-minute drive from his home.

He took a good look at the exterior of the Zeus Barber Shop.  Honestly speaking, it was never anything he thought it would be. It wasn't anything his mother described. If anything, it was amazing and he really liked the atmosphere that it brings to him. It looked homey, and comfortable. The shop was painted with cream-colored paint and designed with a pleasing small neon signage that says "OPEN".

Mark took a huge deep breath before going in since he's also feeling nervous for having his first hair cut. He opens the door and finds a tall, lean man with a blonde hair, greeting and showing him a pleased smile. "Good morning! How may I help you?" he says, still smiling and warmly accomodating him as he guides him his way to the barber seat.

"Um, I want a new haircut..." Mark manages to say which the barber cuts with his harmonic laughs.

"Of course you do, that's the only reason why you're here." the barber replies, which made Mark a little bit embarrassed of himself, flushing his cheeks.

"A-actually, its my first time having my first real hair cut from a barber so I didn't really know what to do with my hair either.." Mark confessed which enlightens the barber and smiles brightly to him again.

"So I'm taking your hair cut virginity then?"

Mark lowered his gaze, trying to avoid the barber's eyes so that he can hide the fact that he's blushing like crazy. The barber taps his shoulder and giggles. "You really need to loosen up a little, trust me and I'll make your hair even wonderful!"

He watched as the barber prepped him before starting to do his hair. And as he stared at his barber, he started to see how charming and attractive he actually is. He didn't even noticed how long he was staring until the barber looks back at him and grins.

"Is there something on my face?" he asks, but Mark just looked away from him, slightly embarrassed from being caught staring.

"Nothing," Mark says quietly and cleared his throat. "I'm just curious to know your name." he added, which made the barber smile bigger.

"Oh." he says, as he fixes his back and levels his eyes to Mark's. "My name is Jungwoo." he says, still smiling at him so brightly. "You?"

"Mark." he answers, as he avoided Jungwoo's gaze on him. "You can call me Mark."

But Jungwoo just happily hummed as he pushes a hair catalog to him. "Well, Mark, today's your lucky day because I'm gonna turn you even more handsome."

Jungwoo came back after a few minutes. "Have you picked what you liked from the catalog?"

Mark handed him the catalog back and went for a vague answer. "I don't have to pick a hairstyle from that catalog. I came here to start a new me. So, I'll let you do the honor to pick whatever hairstyle you think would suit me. Just surprise me." he said, loud and clear.

Jungwoo looked at him, amused. "Now, that's how I like it."

The barber started washing his hair and all the tension that he was having earlier was slipping away bit by bit so he relaxed his body into the chair and enjoyed how Jungwoo's soft finger were running on his hair. He also didn't know why but the barber's way of talking is also calming that he feels like it was lulling him to sleep, so he closed his eyes for a few seconds..

What Mark didn't knew was that he immediately drifted off into sleep.

Mark hears a hair-dryer sound, not far away from where he is. He slowly opens his eyes, waking up his senses to find himself looking at some man who is wearing such a bright blue color into his hair. He looked very pleased and have a huge smile plastered into his face while talking to the barber.

"Jungwoo, you did well as usual!" the man says which earns him a very bright smile from the barber.

"Oh Doyoung, you always try and flatter me every time you make me do your hair..." Jungwoo shyly smiles as he removes the cover from Doyoung.

"And you're still not used to it? Well, just wait and see the reviews later. I'm gonna write the best one yet." the man with the blue hair says before he walked out of the door and left.

"Jungwoo?" Mark calls out to him.

Jungwoo leaves his eyes into the door and turns to him with delight. "Oh, good! You're finally awake. I moved you into our salon section because you seemed to have heavily drifted off to sleep and I didn't want to disturb you but I can't wait and see your reaction to the perfection that I have made to your hair!" he says, excitedly as he even goes to cover my eyes on our way to the mirrors.

"On the count of three, you'll see my masterpiece!" Jungwoo says in his honey-laced voice. "1...2...3!" he says, removing his hands from my eyes which gives him a free access to stare at his new hair, which is.... really, really surprising. and it might have surprised Mark too much.

"What the fu-" Mark immediately  says the moment he looks at the mirror.

He is blonde now and definitely looked like a freaking kid from the 80's.

"How can you do this to me, Jungwoo?" Mark exclaims, his tone steadily rising while staring at his hair in horror.

"W-well.. You didn't liked it?" Jungwoo carefully says, while hesitantly looks at Mark.

"What do you think? I fucking hate it. I'm gonna look like a fucking clown at school!" Mark angrily says as he tries to mess up his perfectly bowl cut shaped hair style.

"B-but bowl cuts are my specialties. And I wanted to use my specialty to you at all cost because you gave me your trust so fully."

"Well, I clearly regret that decision now. I regret trusting you, Jungwoo. You're such a let down." Mark says as he turns to leave the shop.

Mark could feel the stares from the people on the street as he walked down into some park to cool off his head before going home. And honestly, it wasn't a good idea, because more people are just pointing fingers to him now.

He wanted to yell or wreck something up but he also didn't want more of the attention to himself so he picks a couple of rocks and throws them at the river.

"Fuck this hair!" he murmurs, as he throws his first rock. "Fuck Jungwoo for ruining my hair!" he says, louder and throws his second rock. And as he stared at his last rock, Jungwoo's sad face suddenly appears to his mind, showing him how hurt he was to Mark's harsh words.

It infuriated Mark further and swinged the last rock into the river even further. "Fuck myself!" he yells.

Two weeks went by so fast and he just spent it over his home where his mother constantly teased him about his new hair and told him like he even looked younger like a baby. Surely, it annoyed Mark so he checked into Jungwoo's shop reviews to give it bad remarks.

But somehow, whatever he does, his comments or remarks just gets reported and deleted. Sometimes, people even replies to him with taunting him away to stop commenting bad remarks. And since its just stressing himself, he just gave up, thinking that the reviews are rigged anyway and Jungwoo is the worst barber there is and he's just some fool to even trust that guy.

Mark adjusted the hood of his jacket the moment he entered his new school. He looked down, avoided everyone's eye contact because he didn't want to draw attention to his weird looking hair.

"You know, hoods are not allowed in school..."

He turns to look at someone with a thick black hair, his bangs almost covering his eyes. "Hi, my name is Jeno." the guy says and offers a hand.

"Hey, I'm Mark." he answers as he took Jeno's hand. "Yeah, I knew. It's just..." he hesitantly said while looking back at him. "I hated how my haircut went..."

Jeno rolled his eyes on him. "Nah, that's nonsense. Even if it did went bad, you can just grow out your hair again." he said and swiftly removes Mark's hood, revealing his very blonde hair, styled in a messed up bowl cut.

"Dude! Oh my god. Your haircut's really something!" Jeno blurted out and laughed which made Mark embarrassed.

"Shut up. I told you it went bad." Mark retorted and started to walk away from Jeno but he stopped him.

"Come on... stop being dramatic. It looked good on you anyway. I only laughed because its so unique that I am actually so surprised. But it looked good man, trust me." Jeno tries to say but Mark already shrugged.

"Whatever you say..." he says as he walked out on Jeno.

Since hoods are officially not allowed in classes. News went by so fast. And weeks later,  suddenly, Mark could feel all eyes on him whenever he walks or wherever he goes. It starting to make him feel the worst as if it wasnt already ruined from the get-go.

"Hey, Mark. Popular boy."

He feels an arm around on his shoulder, and he sees that it belonged to Jeno. "Jesus, what do you want from me?"

Jeno looked at him, strangely. "Why are you so angry at the world?"

Mark couldn't answer. He didn't knew either.

"Your hair's is too far from looking like shit, so what's the problem dude? You're actually everyone's word of mouth, especially by the girls. Everyone finds you cute and they all wanted to be your friend. But you're just pushing them all away just because you didn't liked your hair."

Mark felt like he couldn't breathe. He can't understand himself either.

His new hair actually did bring attention. And surprisingly, it gave in better responses that he thought he would get. And everyone is actually treating him nice, even the teachers are smiling towards him. But everything is just making him feel like nothing.

"I don't know," he finally answers Jeno which made him earn a frown from him.

"Stop bullshitting me, you exactly know why. And you have to tell me why. So, I can help you and finally put a stop on you from treating people like shit."

Mark looked hesitant at first but closed his eyes and just pulled Jeno's hand to drag him somewhere.

It was kinda a long drive but Mark knew what he was doing. He went out of his car and looked at the familiar cream-colored painted shop.

"The Zeus Barber Shop? So, this is where you had your hair done? Now, this is amazing." Jeno commented as he viewed the shop's exterior.

"Yeah, that's how I was like when I first got here..." Mark mumbled quietly as he continued to stare at the shop.

"So what now?" Jeno asked him.

Mark just gave him a small smile. He knew exactly what to do and why he was there.

It was to apologize to _him._

Three months have already passed and it actually treated him good. Unlike how he spoke to Jungwoo with such harsh words, who only looked out for him to give him the best hair treatment. Jungwoo's sad face that day never left Mark's mind and it haunted him at nights where he thinks about his worries.

Mark took a step forward and took a deep breath before finally entering the barber shop.

Nothing really changed that much and he didn't know why but he actually missed the homey feeling Jungwoo's shop is emitting. He finds his eyes to a certain familiar man that he have seen before. Just like him, he also got the bowl cut but it was in orange with blonde highlights. It looked funny to Mark but somehow, the hairstyle works. This man, which he thinks is Doyoung, still looked good but in uniquely, good kind of way. He tried to not burst out into a laugh, so instead he stiffled his laughter, caughting both Doyoung and Jungwoo's attention.

It made Doyoung frown completely and glared at him the whole time, even until he left the shop. It was weird but somehow Mark also figured out why he did that. He got too focused on Doyoung and didn't realized that Jungwoo was already standing in front of him. He cleared his throat, making Mark look back at him immediately.

"Hi. How may I help you?" Jungwoo says, in a forced smile and slightly hesitant of approaching Mark.

"I wanted to apologize... to you, from everything that I have said that day. You didn't deserved it." Mark began but Jungwoo just offered him a small smile.

"You don't have to apologize to me. It was my fault that I clearly lack the skills if a great barber. Its my fault for taking an advantage of your trust to me and being such a let down to you. I could never imagine the embarrassment you have felt from your everyday life because of my ugly work." Jungwoo remorsely said which broke Mark's heart. It was really saddening to see Jungwoo looking like that, stripped off his confidence, from the only job he thought he was good at and actually proud of. Mark took it all away from him.

"Don't say that." Mark said, making Jungwoo look at him. "I was just being stupid. And foolish for being not satisfied with your work. And not appreciating it when you have actually done your best for my hair. It actually looked nice and I was just being jerk to you. I'm sorry." he said and looked at Jungwoo's eyes.

"Actually, it wasn't all that bad." Mark added, which finally made Jungwoo crack a smile.

"Are you sure? Or are you just patronizing me like Doyoung?" Jungwoo said, pouting cutely to Mark which made him laugh so hard.

"I am not patronizing you. But I guess I really should because you're really the best hairdresser out there!" Mark says, but Jungwoo just pinches his cheeks.

"Don't patronize me like he does. You're fine just the way you are right now..." Jungwoo softly says but Mark just teases him.

"Are you sure? Don't you want more best reviews about your shop? Doyoung wouldn't have to worry and report each and every bad remark I left if I start now."

But Jungwoo just shook his head,  leaning closer and plants a soft kiss into Mark's cheek.

It really took him by surprise. He looked back at Jungwoo, who is now giggling and patting his hair which grew out longer now.

"W-wha..." Mark finds himself lost in words which makes Jungwoo smile even brighter.

"You're so cute.... Please go back here again if you want to cut your hair. It would mean a lot to me." Jungwoo winks at him and leaves him to cater another customer who just arrived.

Mark feels a weird twist into his stomach as he watch Jungwoo prepping the newly arrived customer.

He reaches out to touch his cheek where Jungwoo kissed him. And he felt his heart constricting a little.

 _God, I need a fresh air to breath in,_ he thought as he walked his way out of the shop and went over Jeno who is giving him the stink eye.

"So you and that guy, huh?" he says which made Mark blushed even harder than he already is.

"Shut your mouth! There's nothing happening to us, yet!" Mark frustratingly said as he covers his severely red face from Jeno.

"YET. You said yet." Jeno repeated his words annoyingly.

"I said, shut the hell up, Jeno!" Mark retorts as he starts walking faster towards his car, leaving Jeno behind.

Jeno just giggled and didn't let that stop him. "Mark and that barber, sitting on the tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"


End file.
